In the Heianjing Mansion, several men wearing tuanhua brocade clothes hurriedly walked in, and between the cases, the officials who were kneeling in the office also bowed and saluted. Ignoring the officials, they walked unhindered into the corridor, where the guards stood silently and bowed.

When I went up the stairs, I saw the back of Minori Fujiwara, the Minister of Regents, in a room. It is said that the most powerful person in the country is not the emperor, but this gray-haired, wide-bodied and fat man, a relative and regent, Fujiwara Minori.

"Minister Zuo!" People bowed and bowed.

Immediately, someone couldn't wait to say, "That thing must have been done by Ono!" What a bold man he is! ”

Minori Fujiwara still had his back to the people, standing in front of the window without saying a word.

The wooden window is open, and the weather is calm today. The view from this place is excellent, with the buildings of Heiankyo, the mountains and rivers in the distance, and the white clouds on the top of the mountain glow in the bright sunlight.

People were emotionally discussed, "Our country didn't have to fight with the Central Plains, and now it is not asking for trouble to assassinate the people of Xu Guo for no reason?" The court of Xu Guo will not give up! ”

Other people echoed one after another, "Not long ago, Senator Ono wrote that the local officials colluded with foreigners to plot China's silver mines and land, which is an act of selling the country, harmful and unbeneficial, and demands severe punishment." In his political opinion, it makes sense to do such a thing. ”

"Ono's performance is reasonable, but this method is too reckless and stupid......"

Fujiwara Minori was silent and thought for a long time, then turned around and said, "It is not yet possible to confirm that the assassination was committed by Senator Ono, and we will talk about it when it is verified." ”

Someone below asked: "How should I respond to the season of Xu Guoxin's faction?" ”

Fujiwara Minori said calmly: "Each department has its own duties, and everything must be done by my father-in-law?" ”

When the crowd heard his displeasure, they immediately stopped their mouths and bowed.

"Summoning Fujiwara Asanori and Ono Yoshiko to come, my father asked them face to face." Fujiwara Minori said again.

Several people felt the attitude of the Minister of Regent, and although they did not know why, they could only say goodbye with interest.

Someone did it recklessly, but it was very complicated after the incident. Minori Fujiwara found it tricky...... He also believes that the assassination should be the work of Ono Yoshiko, there is no self-interest in such things, only political reasons, and there are not many people who have the strength and are willing to do it.

However, there are two categories of people who are killed. The first type is the subordinate officials of the local village, and such people who are inferior to the nobility cannot severely punish the Ono family if they kill them, at least not because of this, the Ono family and his large number of followers will be uprooted. The second category is the people of Xu Guo, and the Heianjing court did not dare to use this reason to punish Ono Haogu openly and give an account to the people of Xu Guo; In this way, the prestige of Fujiwara Minori will drop sharply, and it will be considered a weak and incompetent government!

Therefore, Fujiwara Minori excused himself in public that "it has not been verified" and did not dare to act rashly.

If you are not weak, do you want to be tough on Xu Guo? Minister Fujiwara felt powerless again, and in the previous years, there had been two rebellions in a row (the Seihei Tenkei Rebellion), and the imperial army was unable to suppress them; Now that a great enemy has suddenly been established, Minister Fujiwara is worried. The lowly officials and samurai made the nobles unable to control ......

Fujiwara Minori stood on a high place, the beautiful scenery of Heiankyo was in front of him, and the sound of the orchestra singing and dancing in the breeze was faintly audible, but he felt a chill.

After a long time, an attendant came in to report that the man had arrived.

"Shhh......hh Bang! His massive body slammed into the door and got stuck.

The attendant on the side of "......" didn't pay attention to laughing, and then made a serious expression regretfully, and bent his waist slightly.

"Ahh Fujiwara retreated with great difficulty, leaning sideways, desperately squeezing in, bending his legs and squeezing in with a very peculiar posture to finally squeeze through the door, as if he had completed a feat, and breathed a long sigh of relief.

"The lower official meets Minister Zuo." Fujiwara Asahi became enlightened.

Then the thin, clear-faced Ono Yoshiko also came in and bowed as usual.

"Look at the tea." Fujiwara Minori commanded.

Fujiwara Chaonari got permission, and sat down next to the coffee table, and suddenly the wooden floor trembled, and Fujiwara Minori frowned. Ono Yoshigu knelt down on the futon upright, gently put the sign in his hand on the side of several cases with both hands, his demeanor was very polite and calm, and his dress and temperament were also very neat.

"Brother Ono Daofeng is a world-famous calligrapher, Ono-kun was born in the family of the minister, and he is good at calligraphy and tea ceremony." Fujiwara Minoru said quietly.

Ono Yoshigu bowed and said: "Thanks to Minister Zuo's promotion, the lower official is not as far as his younger brother, because the lower official is a soldier." ”

Fujiwara Minori said: "In the past, pure friends made trouble, thanks to Ono-kun's national merit. ”

At this time, the snub Fujiwara Asari spoke: "Ono-kun, you just said it directly, you did what Iwami Kuni did!" ”

Fujiwara Minoru Shindo Ono Yoshiko will not admit it. Sure enough, Ono Yoshikoku said: "Xiaguan often lives in Heiankyo, how can it have anything to do with what happened in Iwami Province?" However, this is not necessarily a bad thing! ”

"Oh?" Fujiwara Minori seriously felt the meaning of this thin soldier's words, denying specific things on the one hand, and on the other hand, he did not hide his position, giving people confidence...... There is even a feeling of fearlessness.

Ono said: "Foreign countries bully their own countries, and concessions will only make them gain an inch!" When the power of the country increases, it will be even more difficult to clean up those who disregard the shame of the emperor!

The matter has come to this point, it is better to take advantage of the fact that Xu Guo has few people to land and the power has not yet been achieved, destroy their stronghold, and drive them down to the sea. With the vastness of the sea, it was difficult to send troops to supply and protect the emperor and his people. ”

Fujiwara Chaocheng frowned and said, "Ono-kun often mixes with those samurai and loses the courtesy of the minister. ”

Ono Yoshikoto: "I'm afraid it's Jun who is often entangled with subordinates and samurai, right?" ”

"You ......" Fujiwara Asanori seemed to understand what Ono was referring to.

Fujiwara Minori raised his hand to stop them, and said quietly: "After the abolition of the conscription system, now the Long March athletes are also useless, what to use against the Xu army?" I'm afraid that this can only be done with the help of the samurai. Although Ono-kun is a soldier, he is a minister, and it is not a good thing that we always rely on samurai. ”

Ono Haogu said: "Minister Zuo Mingjian, the lower officials know that there are only hundreds of people in Xu Guoren in Iwami Country. After the situation deteriorated, the local officials did not dare to easily collude with it, and it would be more and more difficult for the people of Xu Guo to supply. Minister Zuo should also pay attention to external threats, and never delay and find it difficult to contain. ”

Fujiwara Minori said: "Once you confront the people of Xu Guoren, I am afraid that they will attack Heiankyo and make His Majesty the Emperor worried. ”

Ono said: "The sea route is too far, and Xu Guo can't do it." ”

Fujiwara Minori did not say anything.

Ono Yoshigu said again: "This matter should be played by the emperor and let the emperor show it!" ”

Fujiwara Minori also felt that it was necessary, he felt that the consequences were unpredictable, and he was unwilling to bear the responsibility of the Minister of Regent alone, and he should let everyone express his attitude, so that he would not blame him all in the future.

However, Fujiwara Minori finally reminded Ono Yoshiko: "Ono-kun has ambitions, but he must be thoughtful in his work, and don't be impulsive and ruin big things." ”

With that, he turned his head to look out the window, as if he was no longer talking to them. Ono Yoshiko's vision is not far away, it seems that only he sees a lot of trouble, and no one else understands, in fact, in Fujiwara Minori's view, this person does not understand the government at all, and he has no ambitions but should still be experienced.

…… It is said that the day-to-day state affairs of the country are not handled by the emperor himself, and most of the real power is in the hands of the minister of regents; However, the emperor is not a puppet, he has a lot of decision-making power, and the most important thing is the high prestige of his position. There are power contradictions between monarchs and ministers, and they are dependent on each other.

Most of the members of the imperial court were members of the Fujiwara family, and they were maintaining the operation of the imperial court. And the minister needed the imperial family's sacred status as a descendant of Amaterasu to protect his authority.

Emperor Chengming was invited by his ministers, and the court presided over the state affairs.

As soon as Cheng Ming arrived at the court, he sat down in front of a large screen embroidered with cherry blossoms, and the ministers immediately respected him, setting off an inexplicable aura on his body.

May the country and the people be safe, Cheng Ming opened his mouth in this tone, but he did not judge government affairs in an affirmative tone. Monarchs and ministers can maintain balance, each with its own rules; If Cheng Ming is too stubborn, and he cannot guarantee the implementation of his will, it will not only provoke conflicts with the Minister of Regent, but also affect his own authority.

So the minister argued, and Fujiwara Asanori was afraid of being accused of "betraying the country", so he took the lead in attacking, pointing at Ono Yoshiko with a fat finger: "Ono assassinated a foreigner without authorization, so that His Majesty the Emperor and the imperial court fell into a situation of advance and retreat, and should be severely punished!" ”

Ono Yoshiko immediately bowed under the emperor and said, "The minister is fortunate to protect His Majesty the Emperor, and if the emperor blames, the minister is willing to apologize for his crimes!" ”

When Cheng Ming heard this, he immediately looked at Ono Haogu twice. However, he still did not show his attitude and simply remained silent.

None of the people in dispute were people who could completely decide the national policy, and neither the emperor nor the regent, Minori Fujiwara, were willing to express their attitudes.

…… Ono Yoshiko secretly speculated that the reason might be that the imperial court was unwilling to tear its face with the big powers in the west, and at the same time, it was also unwilling to expose the powerless situation of the imperial court...... I'm going to drag it out like this.

However, Ono Yoshiko's political views were very clear, and he understood from all sides that Xu Guoren was for the sake of his country's silver mines, and perhaps as long as he could gain a firm foothold, he would still want to encroach on the land. Moreover, Xu Jun's strength in Dongdu is not strong, and in his current situation, he should rise up to resist!

He just muttered in his heart, the people below are a little unreliable! His original intention was to quickly cut through the chaos and kill two subordinate officials to set an example, so as to influence the spirit of the Heiankyo court...... But unexpectedly, the people who did it killed Xu Guoren together! This is the situation where the envoys of the Xu Kingdom went to Heiankyo to exert pressure, which made things worse.

Ono Yoshiko is also very dissatisfied with the Minister of Heiankyo, these people are weak and incompetent, sit back and watch foreign plunder, and they are unable to clean up the domestic situation, and in the long run, the future of the country is worried!